RWKY: Mistral's Red Devils
by WhichOneIsWill
Summary: How far will you go to get what you want? Cinder Fall finds herself needing to answer this question sooner than she thought, as a reunion has brought new allies into the fold. But when plans go awry and Remnant's shadow war heats up, Cinder needs to decide just what it is she's hoping to get out of serving Salem - and what she's willing to sacrifice to get it.
1. The Day We've Waited For

**Introduction: The Day We've Waited For**

**AN: Now that this semester's classes have calmed down enough to where I can just show up and collect the free points, it's time to begin the next saga of RWKY. Specifically, a prequel.**

**More specifically, a prequel focusing on our villains.**

**Given the events that happened in RWKY proper, I think we all know how this story ends. How, then, to make a story that everyone already knows the ending to still interesting. I've got some ideas, mostly by switching up the villains.**

**I said it before in the first story (mostly with General Erection), but it most certainly applies here: certain canon characters WILL be OOC. Not might. Will. Neo Politan, for instance, is more or less getting retconned.**

**But, that's still a little bit off. For now, before we all get into the edgelord clusterfrack that Munsell will doubtlessly turn this story into, how about we have some fun?**

**Ladies and germs, may I humbly present… Mistral's Red Devils.**

* * *

There were some days that absolutely, positively sucked. Days when her siblings managed to somehow screw up seven things when there were only five things to do. Days when she needed to be babysitter, caretaker, handygirl, _and_ nurse, and all of that without even getting into whatever the hell Stizza decided to do that day.

Today, Falu decided, would not be one of those days.

Even if she had to leave her two brothers for a few minutes, which was basically a catastrophe waiting to happen, the fact that she got the opportunity to get popcorn made this a day worth taking it easy. And not just popcorn, but soda too! And with extra butter, even! On the popcorn, not the soda. She felt like splurging. A quick look in a convenient mirror on the way back to her seat reminded her that splurging wouldn't be a bad thing in Falu's case. Raggedy, tattered skinny jeans that came out of last week's dumpster, an Achieve-Men tshirt that was surprisingly intact for how long she's had it, and a pair of recalled calf-length boots that a shop owner gave to her out of pity all covered a probably too skinny frame. Her hair was nice though, she did try her best with that, a deep and dark red pulled back into a sloppy ponytail.

Getting shouldered to the side made sure Falu knew that she probably spent a bit too much time admiring herself in the mirror, and it took a halfway decent juggling act to make sure the coveted snacks didn't go flying. After regaining her balance - and taking a moment to spare a glare at the guy that pushed her away - she started off at a slow jog to get back to her seats. Assuming, of course, she still had seats. Or that she wasn't about to be ejected for whatever her brothers had managed to do.

Fortunately, today seemed to be all heads for her, as the two heads of close-cropped hair had managed to not leave their seats and try to ruin things somehow. It was the smaller of the pair that heard her first, as always, and piercing brown eyes glared at her for a moment before softening upon her recognition. The goatee was a dead giveaway as to the identity, even ignoring the immediately obvious.

"You have food?"

The voice was deep, too deep. And it most certainly didn't come from the guy looking at her. The solid block of muscle next to him, looking more at home in a horror movie than taking up two seats in the Mistral Coliseum, turned around at having noticed his brother move. No beard this time, only a bit of stubble.

Falu rolled her eyes. "Yes, Crim, I have food." Two large boxes of popcorn went to the big guy, along with an extra large soda. "You got a Professor Spice. Lemme know how it is, yeah?" Crim gave a nod.

"Cost?"

The new voice made Falu stop short. Broken, rough, hoarse. Her other brother didn't like talking. Like, at all. Stizza gave him more than a little shit over it, but it also meant that when he talked, you listened.

Dropping to the seat on his left, Falu handed him a more reasonably sized box and cup. "Free for competitors. Chow down, Munsell. Got you a Mountain Fog. Bit lighter, bubblier. I think you'll like it." The words seemed to assuage her smaller brother's worries, as he tentatively sipped at his straw before humming in approval. With a boy that talked so little, being able to interpret his humming, grunting, and groaning was a skill worth having, and this one told her she could kick her feet up and let her eyes fall to center stage. "How's Stizz doing?" she asked offhandedly.

"Fine," Crim said. Falu snorted, expecting but still not amused at the lack of information he gave; Crimson was not one for deep and involving conversation. "I should be down there," he suddenly blurted out. "Me smash puny Nikos."

Falu had picked the exact wrong time to be taking a drink of her own soda, and nearly drowned on it as Crimson picked the conversation back up. After recovering from nearly drowning due to her brother's choice of wording, she reminded, "Look, we all know you can fight. But that Pyrrha girl would dance circles around you. Literally." Some movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention back to the ring; it seemed like the contestants were coming out for the final match of the tournament. "Stizza's got a better chance than you do against someone as agile as she is."

She'd better, at any rate. There was a stupid amount of prize money on the line – a veritable fortune, by their standards. _Stizz, I hope you can put your shotgun where your mouth is. We're counting on you, up here._

"And now for the main event!" the announcer yelled, getting the party started.

Falu cleared her throat and sat up straighter in her seat. "Alright boys," she announced. "We ready for our magic trick? Gotta stand up for our sister, after all. Seems like hell anyone else is."

* * *

Stizza Rosette was in love.

With what, you may ask?

_Everything._

First off, with her new jacket; Stizza always had a thing for leather, and there was this perfectly good light brown jacket just sitting on top of the garbage. Who cares if it had a mystery stain on the inside? Went perfect with her red crop top, dark brown skinny jeans, and black boots. But really, it should say something when a leather jacket was the thing she was least excited about.

The door opened from the locker room, beckoning out to a cheering crowd, the promise of spectacle, and the intoxicating smell of fire Dust. Stizz loved a good fight normally, and if you were trying to tell her that she'd be competing with _the_ Pyrrha Nikos for a shot at way too much money in the fight of her life? Yeah, she'd have called you a filthy lying liar before today. And speaking of…

"Mm, momma likes," Stizza purred as she reached the center of the arena at the same time as her opponent, sweeping her eyes up and down her form. Seriously, ignore the amount of grandstanding opulence that went into it… a corset, miniskirt, and thigh-high boots for a combat outfit? Stizz winked at the other redhead in the arena, before adding on, "Think we can make time for another round after this bout?"

Her opponent rolled her eyes. _Not one for the direct approach, methinks. Damn if I don't enjoy the view, though_. "I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer," Pyrrha replied. Holding her sword before her and giving a slight bow of a salute, she recited, "Good luck, and fight well."

"Pfft, screw good luck," Stizza scoffed, before her eyes widened. Damn these nerves of hers – she'd completely forgotten to load her weapon! Starting the process of loading her shotgun with its shells, she offered back, "I'll take you up on that good fight, though. Been a while since I've had this much fun. Looking forward to it."

Nikos blinked at her, pretty green eyes opening and closing a few times before they settled on Stizz racking her gun. "If fun is what you're here for, I'm afraid the press and sponsors might make things more complicated than that once this fight is over."

"Then fuck 'em." The reply seemed to take Pyrrha aback. "I'm here for two reasons: more money than I've ever seen in one place, and the best fight in my entire life." Brushing her own deep red bangs out of her hair, Stizza said, "You can keep your sponsors and fancy people. I'm just here for the good time."

"A good time…" Pyrrha muttered. A small, tentative smile spread across her face, one which Stizza reciprocated. _Finally, my dance partner knows how to enjoy herself after all!_ "It's been a while since I've had a good fight myself," Nikos admitted.

"Then fuck the press, fuck the sponsors, and fuck anyone who says otherwise. Let's enjoy ourselves."

"CONTESTANTS!"

_Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. Completely forgot about the announcer!_

With the booming voice forcing itself back to the forefront of their attentions, both Pyrrha and Stizza started taking steps back, Nikos bringing her shield before her and her spear pointed out. Stizza just smirked and took aim for center mass.

"BEGIN!"

Nikos' charge ended only a few instants after it began, the poor girl finding herself flung backwards in the middle of a fireball. She recovered marvelously though, as she always did, and after a bit of sliding back she brought her guard back up, flawless emeralds peeking over bruised and dirtied bronze.

"I thought I saw that first shell was different from the others," Pyrrha said, and the words made Stizza frown. She really, _really_ didn't need her opponent noticing that was the only high-explosive shell she had. "I hope you don't think you'll be able to rely on the tricks that got you here in the first place against me. I've seen it all."

"Have you, now?' Stizza challenged, racking her shotgun and firing again. Pyrrha was ready for the move, though, dodging left, then right, then making a frenzied zigzag of an approach to throw her aim off. One last dodge, and Pyrrha dove straight in for the engagement, and it was all Stizz could do to flip her weapon around and match her charge. Spear point met axe blade, before the recoil from a final shot let Stizza finally bully through the challenge. Unfortunately, her opponent seemed to have been ready for that, and Stizza was unready for Pyrrha's challenge to collapse entirely. Overextended and off balance, she still managed to swing her weapon around to clumsily knock the spear aside, only to catch a shield throw up the side of the head.

She staggered, waving her weapon before her and firing her last shell to keep Pyrrha from taking advantage. With a bit more room between them, Stizz took the opportunity to try and reload what she could. Needing more time before a reengagement, she threw out, "I can't decide whether to fangirl over the fact that I'm getting my ass kicked by you of all people, or to be pissed off that just worked on me."

Pyrrha offered another smile, and… almost seemed to hang back? Was Nikos straight up _letting her_ reload? In lieu of a direct answer, she instead offered with a smile, "I watched your earlier fights. You and your brother work really well together, and you make a formidable team. You're a good fighter, Stizza Rosette. You should be proud."

Stizz's eyes narrowed. Was Pyrrha _actually _doing what she thought…

"But I'm afraid this match is not fated in your favor," Nikos continued. "Your tricks won't work here, and your brother can't save you from your recklessness. You're alone."

_Yup, Nikos just wrote me off. Fuck my fangirling, fuck spontaneous girl-crushes, and fuck this condescension. This bitch is going down._

"Alone?" Stizza barked out with a laugh. "You think I'm alone down here?" She raised one hand up and gave a two-fingered salute to the stands. She wasn't even sure where the gang was, but they'd see it anyway. "Alright, baby doll. Rule one of dealing with the Rosettes…"

Furious binging sounded from the scoreboards, attracting everyone's attention. Where the Aura meters _had_ shown an 81-87 lead in favor of Pyrrha Nikos, Stizza's bar started climbing dramatically. And climbing. And still it climbed, until it finally came to a stop… at an Aura level of 381.

Stizza's chuckling got Pyrrha's attention back. _Showtime, bitch._ "Rule one is… we ain't ever alone. You fight one of us, you fight all of us."

* * *

She'd seen the signal; they all did. Crimson might have set his popcorn down with a grumble, but their sister had asked for helped. It was only fitting that they answered. Falu ruminated on their shared Semblance, even as her eyes greedily took in the fight and her soul siphoned its power to the sister that needed it more than she. Their bond… their Link. It went far beyond what any other brothers and sisters had, she knew that much. But the specifics… _what_ their Semblance did was fairly obvious. _How_ it did it, though – figuring it out was still a work in progress.

One way or another, their Auras were linked together. All four of them. Any one could draw not only on their own power, but also on the power of any other. Well, provided they were close enough, anyway. It was… a little bit trippy, if Falu was being honest. She couldn't figure out whether they just shared their own reserves of Aura, or if all of them shared one massive Aura reserve together, or if it was something completely different. Whatever the means, the ends were clear: if anyone needed more Aura, the other three could give them their Aura.

Stizz needed it, by the looks of things. That opening exchange had proved Pyrrha Nikos' superiority in skill, assuming it hadn't been preeminently obvious. After a brief moment of shock at seeing the Aura meter reflect their Semblance, both girls started tearing into each other, Stizza brawling with all the decorum and mannerisms of Mantle's famed berserkers of however many years ago and Pyrrha responding with calculating and measured efficiency. Two entirely opposed fighting styles were on display, but their Semblance was the only reason it was viable – it only took ninety seconds before Stizz's Aura dropped below the 300 mark, showing that anyone else would've had their Aura break by this point.

"Well, it's definitely closer now," Falu muttered off-handedly, watching Pyrrha duck underneath a roar of buckshot before sweeping Stizza's legs out from under her, who in turn rolled away from the counter and spun back up with a rising slash from the axe blade on her shotgun's stock. Stizza's rate of Aura loss was hilariously unsustainable for anyone else, and while even with their Semblance this wouldn't be a long fight – Pyrrha's Aura was taking a steady if slower dive.

"Take away her shield," Crim blurted out softly, "and the fight is ours."

Falu blinked, surprised that her larger brother had managed to piece that together. But true enough, this had turned into a battle of attrition where Pyrrha's only advantage was her shield; if that were out of the picture…

Suddenly, _somehow_, she managed to catch a smirk on Stizza's face, and just at the same time her arm snaked underneath the back of her new jacket. Even so, it was the smirk that gave her away. She _knew_ that smirk. It was the smirk that Stizza always got when she had an idea that would cause Falu no small headache. She could even feel one coming on now, and this far up in the stands she had no chance of stopping her in time. Even Munsell groaned, doubtlessly seeing the same thing she did. All Falu could do is drop her head into her hands.

"Godsdamnit, Stizz. What the fuck are you doing _now_?"

* * *

As usual, Stizza was making things up as she went along.

Physicality-wise, she and Pyrrha were pretty much even. She was stronger, Pyrrha was faster. Their gear had Pyrrha the winner in that category, what with her shield and actually having armor, but Stizz was pretty sure that being able to use her siblings' Aura pools evened that out. That skill, on the other hand…

That skill though.

Pyrrha Nikos was an outright terror on the battlefield and backed up all those years of training and experience with a frighteningly tactical mindset. Letting her sit back and dictate how the fight would happen was a good one-way ticket to the loser's lounge. Stizza didn't like the loser's lounge. It was for losers. And she wasn't. A loser, that is. An all-out, hilariously aggressive assault was the only move she had that could keep the Invincible Girl on the back foot. It was a horrible idea – for every hit she managed to land, Pyrrha landed at least three of her own – but their Semblance made this fight in the realm of possibility.

Right now, they were in a bit of a stalemate, but Stizz could already tell that it wasn't going to last. Even ignoring how quickly both their Auras were dropping, Nikos was already starting to adapt to the frenzied fighting style she was up against. If Stizza was going to win this, then she needed a wildcard and _now_.

So Stizza had pulled an uncharacteristic move last night and actually did her homework. And then, she did what she did best – totally unrelated incident that led to her losing a couple fingers off her left hand notwithstanding.

She improvised.

Pyrrha must have been expecting a trick of some kind, for the second Stizz's hand went to the small of her back she launched her own assault, spear lancing forward to try and turn her into a Rosette kebab. Stizza rolled under the attack, snorted at the thought of how it was the wrong kind of impalement, and chucked what she was hiding straight at Nikos.

Pyrrha's furrowed brow at the loud clang and sudden weight on her shield gave way to widened eyes, but Stizz chuckled and drew her attention. "_More_ tricks?" Nikos sighed, seemingly half resigned and half exasperated. "Weighing down my shield with a magnet won't make you magically win."

"Did you seriously think I would fight you fairly?" Stizza chirped back. "By the way, that's not just a weight. Tick, tick, boom!"

A green diode lighting up at the phrase was all the warning Pyrrha had to curse and throw her shield as far away as she could, and just in time as it was engulfed in yet another fireball. A fireball that Stizz sadly did not get to appreciate, as she was more concerned with pressing her newfound advantage. Their Auras were down to 87 on Stizza's side, and 37 on Pyrrha's. Nikos was just low enough that one last all-out assault should take her down to the red. Stizz was hitting harder, and Pyrrha without her shield couldn't either defend or retaliate nearly as well as she had been earlier. Right?

Which is why, when her first swing went just a hair wide, Stizza knew something was up. Her axe zigged when it should have zagged, and not only did she miss but her opponent managed to get a slice in across her right thigh. Stizz hissed through the pain, transitioning the overhead slash into a horizontal one that should have bisected Nikos at the waist… but missed _again_, streaking as far low as Pyrrha's knees and providing a wonderful opportunity to leap over and plant a high-heeled boot right into Stizza's cheek.

The final straw was when Stizza fired off what _should_ have been the fight-winning shot – her opponent was in midair, with no way to dodge, staring down a shotgun loaded with birdshot a mere three feet away, and no shield to block the round. It should have been impossible to miss. It should have been impossible to dodge. And yet, when Stizz pulled the trigger on her weapon, the recoil somehow kicked the gun to the _right_, every single pellet magically swerving around the girl that was supposed to be completely helpless.

The fight was over, at that point. The same magical recoil that made her miss her shot also left her wide open, so obviously here came little miss Invincible Girl with her signature finishing combo. That sword came by and slashed at her stomach, Pyrrha's free arm grabbing Stizza's and wrenching the shotgun out of her hand. The sword changed into a spear and the haft got hooked around her ankle, and at that point Stizz just closed her eyes and hoped that the upcoming shield smash – or punch to the face, in this case – didn't hurt too badly.

The buzzer sounded almost immediately after Stizza got launched halfway across the stage with a left hook that had _way_ more force behind it than it should have. "And with that, in spectacularly brutal fashion, the fight is over! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you your winner, the now record-holding four time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament… Pyrrha Nikos!"

* * *

"Hmm… most certainly interesting. Do you have what you needed, Mercury?"

The young man to her left annoyingly slurped up the last of his soda before finally kicking his feet off the seat before him. "Yup. Nikos is pretty good, but I've got her number. Something's going on there, but I'll still beat her if it comes down to it."

"Excellent," Cinder purred. Pyrrha Nikos was good, almost too good by most people's standards. If Ozma desired to stand in her way, then he would almost doubtlessly choose Nikos to be the obstacle. "And you, Emerald? Do you have what you were looking for?"

No answer came.

Raising her eyebrow, Cinder looked to her right. She had no misunderstanding of her other underling – Emerald Sustrai practically worshipped her for taking her off the streets in Vale last year, and was all too eager to please her. The fact that she hadn't immediately answered Cinder's question was almost unheard of. Equally unheard of was the nearly blank stare Emerald gave the arena. The girl wasn't in her Semblance, Cinder knew that much, but was she staring at the Nikos girl? No, a closer look showed that she was staring at Pyrrha's opponent.

"Emerald." The girl jumped in her seat with a small yelp, clearly surprised. That was bad. Discipline would need to be meted out for such carelessness. "What _are_ you staring at?"

"Stizza," the girl replied. "It's… it's really them. They're still alive."

One fine eyebrow raised. More unusual behavior. It was concerning. "Do you know her?"

Emerald opened her mouth, then shut it, clearly thinking. Whatever it was she was thinking of, it clearly gave her an idea when she lit up like an Unspecified Winter Holiday tree. "Cinder, ma'am, I'd like to introduce you to some old friends of mine. I think they'll be able to help the plan marvelously."

Emerald's behavior was so utterly uncharacteristic of the passive near-servant Cinder had grown to know that she took a look back at the defeated girl, only just now climbing back to her feet dejectedly and scowling at her weapon. This was… unusual. Too unusual. Something this strange bore looking into. Leaving stones unturned, she knew from experience, was a good way to invite trouble.

So, Cinder turned to Emerald with a small smile. "By all means, lead the way."

* * *

**AN 2: I mean, winter doesn't start until December 21****st****, so it is still technically fall.**

**Alright, with lame excuses out of the way, let me give this thing a proofread and we can get this ball rolling!**

**Also, I learned my lesson from RWKY proper. I'm not promising an upload schedule. I'll try for something like once every two weeks, but no guarantees.**

**And with that out of the way, let's move on to Reader Respons… oh. Right.**

**Well, until next time, folks!**


	2. Stranger in a Stange Land

**Chapter I: Stranger In a Strange Land**

**AN: Yeah, things have been kinda shit over here. Apologies for that.**

**Let's get right down to brass tacks here, where our handy-dandy RWKY RoadMap(TM) shows that we… have a reunion coming up. Huh, that's nice. Nothing could possibly go badly with that, right?**

**Right?**

* * *

How long has it been? Six years? Seven?

Emerald was completely ignoring the people around her as she tried to shoulder her way through the crowd, completely ignoring her boss and her new coworker. The Rosettes had to be here somewhere – if nothing else, they were more than a little hard to miss if you knew them. Sure, Crimson was always pretty scrawny, and Munsell was always the shy guy, but Stizza still seemed to be her usual flamboyant self.

She stopped only long enough to take a breath, mind wandering back to… to better times. And Oum almighty if being a homeless seven-year-old was considered a "better time," but she'd take it over her stay in Vale. Gods, they really had been little runts, hadn't they? Emerald had first met them when they were all what, five, six? Events were easier to remember that far back than times, but she did remember that she'd only been a couple days out of her own orphanage when she ran into the four of them, apparently on the run from a completely different orphanage.

The Rosette Quadruplets. Had to have been hell on their mother, that's for sure, but Emerald was more than thankful for the woman that did the deed. The five of them had been the only people they could rely on for years. For so long, it had just been Falu, Stizza, Crimson, Munsell, and Emerald, doing what they could and what they wanted. The only thing that could have stopped them was themselves, truthfully, even at that age. Which is, naturally, what happened. When they found a boat headed for Vale, Emerald had been all for going – that Kingdom was better to those who were on the bottom, so she'd heard, and their collective reputation was starting to make things pretty dicey as they were all growing up. It had been such a good idea, it had even tempted her to part ways with her friends, seeking a better life elsewhere…

Emerald snarled, before her eyes caught a glimpse of a dark red ponytail. Either that was incredibly well dyed, or – no, wait! Three more heads of hair with it, all the same color! She redoubled her pace, intent on getting back with the first family she'd ever known.

Leaving was the worst thing she'd ever did, and something she'd always hold against eleven-year-old Emerald. But now, that didn't matter. Now, she could be back with them. Not just be back with them, but offer them what they – and Cinder – had offered her: a family. A home. A place to be. She could even picture it; Falu would welcome her back with open arms, Stizza would get far too clingy for comfort, the scrawny little runt that Crimson always was would-

"Visitor."

The voice that rumbled was sharp, gruff, yet full of energy. And when the person that said it finally locked eyes with her… that was Crimson's face, alright. But since when the hell did he go from the smallest one among them to being damn near as wide as he was tall?!

"Of _course_ there's visitors, Crim, you can't go five feet without bumping into… wait." The young woman that roughly shouldered her way past the monster movie caricature of Crimson Rosette stopped dead in her tracks, before her eyes went wide in recognition and her jaw dropped. "No way. No fucking way."

Despite the… surprise, Emerald couldn't help but break into a huge grin. "Hey guys. Been a while."

"You could say that," the third voice popped up. And sure enough, squeezing her way just between her brother and sister, was Momma Bear herself. Complete with… a gigantic frigging burn across half her damn face. Emerald's smile vanished as Falu came up. Guessing at the reason for her friend's shock, Falu added, "Yeah, sorry about the mess. It's Sitzza's fault, as usual."

"Hey – hey!" Stizza suddenly barked. "That one wasn't me for a change, and you damn well know it!"

"You trying to burn down wherever we're staying down every week isn't helping things!"

The sisters' usual banter got Emerald's grin to come back, and she wasted no further time in snatching Falu in a hug. "It's so good to see you guys again. I thought I'd never…"

"It's okay, Gemma," Stizza reassured, dragging Emerald into a hug once Falu had her fill. "We've kinda forgiven you for running off on us."

"Ignore her," Falu remarked, no doubt based on how hard Emerald had flinched. "She likes getting under people's skin. Really damn good at it, to… like how she _fucking gave Nikos a free win and cost us six months' rent!_"

Now it was Stizza's turn to flinch at the sudden glare and shout, before she turned a glare of her own on her sister as Crimson exacted his toll through a hug that nearly broke Emerald's ribcage. "I _told_ you, something was fucking up with that shit! _Equalizer_ kicked completely off, you know our guns don't have that kind of recoil!"

"Well maybe if you had spent half as much time tinkering with them as you do trying to light shit on fire, it wouldn't have –"

"Emerald."

One word, her name. Raspy, hoarse, soft. It was still enough to get Falu and Stizza away from each other's throats, as the fourth member of the crazy, messed up group they had made himself known. And when he finally managed to get into eyesight, Emerald could do little but stare. That was Munsell, alright, but… he looked different. Wrong. Like someone was doing a super-good impersonation of him, but something was just _off_. Was this what her illusions were like?

Something flashed across Munsell's face, but it was too fast for her to get a read on what. What was –

"Holy shit, he just spoke." The tension flowed out of the space, probably into that breath that Stizza just sucked in. Turning to Falu, she said, "Did you hear that? He just fucking talked. He,"

"Heard you the first time, Stizz."

A scowl and a glare were Munsell's answer, combined with an annoyed growl and an elbow being dug into Stizza's hip; if her soft cry of pain was anything to go by, he'd managed to hit a spot that the Nikos girl had hammered a little bit ago.

"It's… good to see you," Emerald remarked, clumsily trying to fill the void. Godsdamnit, why was this so awkward all of a sudden?

Mercury's voice called out from behind them, about twenty feet if she had to guess. "Damnit, Em! Where the hell did you run off to?"

"More visitors," Crimson grumbled, and before Emerald could turn around and yell back a hand grabbed her shoulder and started pulling her back. She flashed back around in panic, but calmed a little when she saw it was Falu's hand. Her right hand was itching at her back, where Emerald could see some sort of weapon – sword, maybe? – tucked under her shirt. Stizza, too, similarly armed herself, bringing the same shotgun she used in the arena out and ready.

Okay, not good. Emerald needed to solve this now, before her new family and old family decided to come to blows over a misunderstanding. "Over here!" she shouted, drawing startled looks from Stizza and Crimson. She reassured, "It's okay, guys, I know them."

"We'll see," Crimson grumbled, not backing down for a moment. Stizza and Falu, at least, seemed to calm a bit.

"C'mon, Em, since when are _you_ the troublemaker?!" Merc groaned, pushing forward before stopping on a Lien at the sight of her sandwiched between the Rosettes. Immediately, his mood and posture changed, leaning forward and getting ready to launch himself at the five of them. "Alright, bud, let her go."

Emerald tried to get in front, tried to get between them and try to keep a fight from breaking out, but her squirming was halted when Crimson used a hand most the size of a dinner plate to push her further back. "No," he growled. One ward, delivered with all the grace of a rampaging Ursa, and enough to get the tension ratcheting up to 11.

Falu tapped her shoulder, just in time for Cinder to show up – and holy shit this was getting out of hand. "You're sure it's safe?" she whispered. Emerald nodded frantically, hoping that Falu was as good as talking them all out of trouble as she used to be.

"Emerald," Cinder bit out. "What's going on?"

"Stand down, Crim," Falu barked out suddenly.

For his part, Crimson seemed startled by the order, risked a hasty glance back. "But enemies," he shot back quickly, quietly.

"Not enemies," Falu denied. "I said, _stand down_." Taking a look to her right, where Stizza had tensed back up, she added, "You too, Stizz. Em says they're good, they're good."

Finally feeling able to take a breath and calm the hell down, Emerald took the opportunity to push past a reluctantly relaxing Stizza and Crimson and get in the middle of everything. "We all good? Good. Guys, this is…" Emerald waffled for a few seconds, trying to figure out how best to put it. She eventually settled on, "This is my boss, Cinder. Mercury here is my coworker. Cinder, Merc, these are the people I wanted you to meet. Falu, Stizza, Crimson, and Munsell Rosette."

"Charmed," Stizza threw out, dragging attention back to her.

Cinder raised an eyebrow, still tense from the situation that nearly happened. "A colorful group. How do you know them, Emerald?"

"Oh, Em and us go _way_ back," Stizza started with a grin, only to get elbowed in the side again, this time from Falu. She raised her own brow at Emerald, doubtlessly trying to ask how much to tell. Emerald gave a smile and a nod. Cinder got her off the street, gave her a life and purpose – she wasn't _about_ to hide anything from her.

"We met each other when we were six," Falu explained. "We pretty much grew up together."

"You never told us you were from Mistral, Em," Merc pointed out, opting to lean against a convenient concrete support next to them and crossing his arms.

Emerald took a quick breath – and pointedly ignored the smirk and wink he specifically sent Stizza's way – and explained with a shrug, "It never really came up."

"So, you know us," Falu interrupted, putting herself firmly in Cinder's center of attention in the process. "We still don't know a damn thing about you guys, though. Care to spill the beans?"

Cinder didn't answer immediately; Emerald could tell she was weighing her options. When that small smile – that 'I-like-you-and-want-you-to-like-me' smile that only came out with people she wanted to work with – came out, Emerald knew she'd gotten the intrigue she wanted from her boss. "I ran into Emerald about ten months ago, actually. She'd just gotten away with a rather daring heist, and as someone who appreciates the skill something like that takes, I took her on. We've been working together ever since."

"And we picked up Merc just a month or so ago, actually – right here in Mistral, if you believe it," Emerald helpfully added on. "That was…" a dangerous glare from Mercury made her cut off her retelling of how they found him, making Emerald instead opt for, "… something. And also not my story to tell."

"Well, any friend of Em's is a friend of ours," Falu announced. "Welcome to Mistral."

"Got any embarrassing stories to tell?" Stizza suddenly asked. "I'd be willing to trade."

Emerald's eyes widened – if she even _thought_ about telling them about what happened at the Hydian Way… "No they don't," she barked out suddenly. Grabbing Stizza by her jacket, Emerald added, "And no you won't."

Merc chuckled. "Ooh, sounds like there's a story there."

"Aaaand there goes Stizz," Falu muttered, not paying attention to how Emerald all but collapsed at seeing Stizza and Mercury getting along far, _far_ too well. But, Emerald though, she should've seen this coming a mile away.

Desperately trying to distract herself from what Merc and Stizz were talking about, not to mention try and get the excuse she needed to start bringing the Rosettes into the fold, Emerald turned to Falu and asked, "So, a Huntsman tourney, huh? You guys looked pretty darn good out there!"

Falu smirked and answered, "Yeah, we've, um… let's say we've got some _experience_. And when we see a payday this good for something that _won't_ get us arrested, we jumped at the chance." Her eyes narrowing and looking over at Stizza, Falu belted out, "Even if the person we sent to the finals went and threw the match on us!"

"Man, fuck you!"

Falu sighed and dropped her head into her hand as Emerald gave her a sympathetic look. "What's done is done though, I guess. Now, I… now I gotta figure out how we're gonna make rent. Or how we're gonna eat…"

"Actually, I think I might be able to help with that."

And those were the words Emerald was waiting to hear. Emerald knew her boss, and as Cinder strutted up with a smile that was half a smirk, and half warm and motherly, she could almost see and hear what was about to happen before it even did.

"Tell me, Falu, was it?" Cinder began, "What kind of work do you and your siblings tend to do?"

"Eh, all kinds of things, really," Falu answered. Looking around to make sure nobody was paying any particular attention to them, she leaned in and said more quietly, "We do a whole bunch of mercenary work for the local gangs and shit. Crim's the muscle, Stizza helps him with that – not to mention a pretty good tinkerer – Munsell's good with the delicate stuff, and I'm good with the quiet stuff." Leaning back and fixing a new look on Cinder, she followed up with, "How come? You got business we can do?"

Cinder's smile grew. "Perhaps. Is there somewhere else we can meet? Somewhere we can discuss our… _wholly legitimate_ business proposals?"

"Perhaps," Falu smirked. Raising her voice, she yelled, "Stizz, quit your damn flirting! We're moving out!"

"Would you piss the hell off for, like, _five godsdamn minutes?!_"

Emerald blinked at the reaction, before staring at Falu as she started leading the seven of them out of the now mostly emptied stands. That was way more aggressive than she remembered their interactions being; sure, Stizza had always chafed a bit with Falu, and Falu had always had her hands full keeping Stizza in line. But that…

A drunken man stumbled past them, knocking into Munsell and nearly sending him to the ground. Crimson reacted immediately, casually picking him up by the throat and growling almost animalistically. It took Falu staring him down for him to put the guy down, who seemed both instantly sober and terrified for his life as he tore down the hall. Crimson seemed entirely unapologetic – a complete 180 from the complete pushover who couldn't hurt a fly when they were younger.

What the hell happened while she was gone?

* * *

"Welp, here we are!"

Emerald was expecting this from the start, but expectations still didn't seem to meet up with reality. Sure, she and Cinder didn't have anything close to luxury, but even they during their time in Vale could at least expect their apartment to be warm and dry, with _some_ amount of food in the cupboard. Their beds were functional, and their bathroom was clean and in good working order – most of the time, anyway. Compared to that, though…

Stizza opened the tap for the sink in their "kitchen" – and that was being generous – and Emerald couldn't help but wrinkle her nose when the water came out more brown than anything. Seeing her reaction, Stizza laughed and said, "Yeah, water's pretty shit around here. Gotta let it run for a few minutes to get the worst of it out."

"Damn, what the hell happened to the rest of our ramen?" Falu muttered, drawing Emerald's eyes to the one cupboard the room had, where Falu had dug out two packets of instant noodles and evidently struggling to find more food. After doing some more digging, she muttered, "Shit, looks like I get to skip dinner again. Okay, Stizza gets one, she needs it after her fight today, but then…"

"Munsell gets it," Crimson volunteered, drawing everyone's attention and a grunt from Munsell that Emerald couldn't tell if it was supposed to be disapproval or alarm. Apparently judging it to be disapproval, Crimson defended, "You need it more than I do."

"So… looks like you kept the decorating sparse," Mercury offered weakly from the other room, earning a snort from Stizza and Falu and prompting Emerald to go into the second room of this… this squat, calling it an apartment was being too generous. "Where's your beds?"

Stizza followed Emerald into the room, flopping down to take a seat and leaning against one of the walls. Shooting a cross look at Merc, she retorted, "Exactly how much money do you think we have?"

Merc put his hands up in a placating gesture and answered, "Okay, I get it, sorry. You can put the claws away."

Emerald was only paying attention to the conversation in passing, more focused on the room. Four walls, a door into the kitchen, a bare carpet. No furniture, no windows, no power outlets, no anything. Hell, the only things in the room other than them were two weapons in the far corner leaning against the wall. She raised an eyebrow at the massive tower shield taking up a good chunk of the back wall, over four feet high, covered in thick spikes, and looking like it weighed as much as she did. Propped up in the corner looked like some kind of rifle, a sniper if she had to guess. Both of them looked like, erm, creative use of local resources if she was being generous, and garbage sculptures if she wasn't.

"Sorry about the lack of pomp and circumstance," Falu announced, getting everyone's attention as she made her way into the main room. Leaning against the wall opposite her sister, she added, "We don't exactly have a lot to work with. Gangs have actually been pretty quiet lately, work's been dried up for the past couple months."

"So I see," Cinder said quietly, lips creased and brow furrowed. Her eyes flashed angrily, dangerously, before she closed them and took a calming breath. When she opened them again, Cinder asked, "There's a fourth member of our group I instructed to meet us here. I trust that won't be a problem?"

Falu seemed to give it a bit of thought, before shaking her head back towards the kitchen and ordering, "Crim, watch the door." She turned back to Cinder before asking, "Who's he looking for?"

"White, pink, and brown," Merc answered suddenly. "Colorful as all hell. Hard to miss."

Crossing the room with an economy of motion that could've been considered laziness were it not for the sharp alertness in his eyes, Crimson casually picked up the shield with one hand and hefted it before turning back to the entrance. "I'll watch," he rumbled.

While he crossed back through everyone's field of view, Emerald finally nailed down what had been bugging her the most about this place so far. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Outside," Stizza answered from her corner of the room.

"You don't even have-" Cinder whispered quietly, quietly enough that Emerald was pretty sure only she caught it. She cut herself off quickly though, forcing the thought away with a small growl. Putting on a smile that Emerald could tell was just a bit on the forced side, Cinder began, "As it so happens, I could help you with that situation. I trust, before we start, that you're not averse to more… unsavory work?"

"Nope," Falu replied. "Hell, depending on what kind of 'unsavory' you're talking about, that's their favorite kind."

"Not yours?" Cinder prodded.

Falu hemmed and hawed for a moment, trying to decide how to best word it, before eventually settling on, "I don't have to enjoy my work to be good at it." Still a bleeding heart, it seemed.

Cinder noticed it also but seemed content enough with the answer. "There's a few things my team and I were hoping to get done while we were in Mistral. One of them was to procure a sizable shipment of Dust that should be making its way to the Kingdom's borders in the next few days. I would like the four of you to intercept it in our stead."

"Good ol' fashioned Dust heist, huh?" Stizza wondered, her eyes being closed doing nothing to conceal her interest in the conversation. Her lips pulled up into a smirk as she added, "Been a little while since we've done one of those."

"How 'sizeable' are we talking about?" Falu asked.

"Three box trucks," Cinder described. "The first two are the payload: five tons of Dust each. Highly refined, top quality. You can understand my desire to get a hand on it." At Falu's nod, she continued, "The third truck is the security detail. Two squads of surplus AK-130 androids, as well as two representatives from Hammer Security."

"I know them," Stizza piped up suddenly. Her smile turning vicious, she added, "Tested some toys out on them a couple weeks ago. Don't think they've forgiven me for that one quite yet."

"Tends to happen when you firebomb people, Stizz," Falu sighed, face dropping into her palm. "What are we dealing with?"

Her sister shrugged. "Washed up ex-Hunters looking to make a quick buck in private security. Bigger game than we usually take, but not by much. Sounds like typical smash-and-grab."

"With one complication," Cinder said, inserting herself back into the conversation. "There's a need to make its owners _think_ it arrived at its destination, while still taking it for ourselves. The trucks themselves need to remain undamaged, and you'll need to pose as company representatives."

Falu frowned at that. "We can't exactly pass off as pencil pushers. Especially if these people are going to be pre-vetted."

"Which is why you'll be getting help with that aspect. Who should be arriving –"

"She's here."

The words got everyone's attention as Crimson stepped aside to reveal a new girl. White calf-length high-heeled boots, brown leather pants with a darker brown belt gave way to a dark brown corset being worn over a white jacket with pink interior. Emerald locked eyes with the girl and smiled, who gave a toothy smile in her own right as her eyes kept switching between the same shades of pink, white, and brown as were in her hair.

"These are them?" the girl asked, and at Cinder's nod she rapped her parasol on the floor of the kitchen before theatrically bowing. "Neo Politan, everyone. Con artist, cat burglar, and criminal mastermind extraordinaire. Pleasure to meet you."

Emerald looked over, just in time to see Falu raise an eyebrow at their newest guest and Stizza… wait, was she drooling? "Nice to meet you, too," Falu said, bringing the attention back to her. Turning back to Cinder, she asked, "I take it she's good with disguises, then?"

A throaty chuckle brought attention back to Neo as she leaned on her parasol like a cane. "Am I good with disguises?" With a snap of her fingers, she treated everyone to the show that was her Semblance as what looked like glass shards swept up her form, before they saw a second Falu stand before them all. "Am I good with disguises?" Neo repeated, and all four of the Rosettes did a double take as she even managed to nail down Falu's voice. Shooting a cross look at Falu, she asked, "Is water wet?"

Emerald rolled her eyes as Merc scoffed and called out, "Show off."

"While Emerald, Mercury, and I will be attending to other matters in the city," Cinder picked back up, drawing all attention back to her as Neo snapped again and dropped her Semblance, "Neo here will be assisting you with this job. Succeed, and not only can I promise _generous_ compensation but future employment as well."

All four of the Rosettes shared glances with each other, but as Falu opened her mouth Stizza cut her off with, "How generous we talkin' about?"

"How does ten thousand Lien each sound?"

Emerald still had no idea how Cinder could pull that kind of money out of nowhere, but she was glad she could. And as all her old friends' eyes grew wide, she knew that she'd done it. Her new family and old family, all together. Finally, all those years, all that struggle, all that hardship… this just made it all worth it.

Quick nods from her siblings sealed the deal, and Falu gave a small smirk and answered, "Sounds like you're about to have more Dust than you know what to do with."

* * *

**AN 2: And, there we have it. Looks like the band's been brought together. Hmm, Cinder with four **_**more**_** orphaned youth of extraordinary talent, what could possibly go wrong there?**


End file.
